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So about a month ago I had to make a decision regarding a smartphone platform and made the move to using the iPhone. I’ll refer you to my previous posts for the background on that. So its been very interesting and I am glad for the experience. I still walk around the house using the Lumia and actually like placing my 950 xl next to my iPhone to run comparisons and tests. But I pick up the iPhone when I leave the house while the Lumia sits on the charger.

A key element to my being able to make this move successfully has been Microsoft’s decision over the last few years to actively develop for other platforms. Obviously there is the process of learning a new OS and adjusting your work flow somewhat but using familiar apps, current accounts and services goes a long way in making the transition.

So here are the Microsoft apps on my iPhone

MS Office

Word

Excel

PowerPoint

OneNote

Outlook

OneDrive

Office Lens

Sway

RD Client

Bing

Bing Rewards

Skype for Business

Cortana

Azure Authenticator

Microsoft Health (connected to the Band 2)

Healthvault

Translator

MSN News

MSN Money

Channel 9

Microsoft Selfie

Xbox One Smartglass

Wunderlist

After installing the apps and logging in with my Microsoft account, my settings, content, filters or pointers as the case may be were all there.

Next I went on the hunt for non-Microsoft apps that would work regardless of being on the iPhone or my Windows 10 desktop or mobile device.

Here are the Cross Platform Apps I’ve installed and use across iOS and Windows.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Flipboard

Enpass

Ring

Insteon

Audible

Amazon

Ebay

Kindle

Slack

Straw

Life 360

Pandora

VPN App

Citrix Receiver

So I’m off to a good start. I’m actually feeling pretty good about managing the move with little disruption and my friends are having a great time having fun over it at my expense. At work, we are moving all our Lumia users to the iPhone. We are sending them to YouTube for a training session before we visit to drop off and set up the device. So I will revisit this topic periodically but its time to focus on other matters. BUILD just kicked off and I need to catch up on the keynote. We are prepping to move our organization to Windows 10 and there is the current security crisis plaguing health care that’s demanding immediate attention. Plenty to do and write about. See you soon!

I had lunch this past weekend with a dear friend who was my high school english teacher. He was a guiding figure in my teen years and we have stayed in touch through the years. He is 72 now and me 54. Like old men do, we reflected on the changes that have occurred in our professions and opined on the good and the bad. One of the things we agreed on was the speed of the change seems too fast and that was leading to a lack of control of the details and the outcome.

Microsoft figured this out when they saw the industry expanding beyond the desktop to mobile. They tried to meet the demand but figured out they had to change to adjust to the reality of what had happened and where they were positioned. They reasoned, Lets develop really good versions of our products for these other platforms AND try and see if we can lay the foundation for the next big leap. They adapted to roll with their situation and, hopefully, get in front of the trends. I still have my Lumia 950XL and I still use it daily to check updates, features and to see where it will best fit the needs for myself and my organization.

Fact is life is moving at a rapid pace. We have immediate access to information, people and services. This “here and now”, “immediate access”, “wherever I am”, “no limits”, expectation is rapidly becoming the standard. This sets the expectation for all industries, including my own, health care, among them. When we were moving to Windows 8 on the desktop adopting a phone that paralleled that experience made sense. With Windows 10 it doesn’t at this time. Most individuals in my industry utilize iPhones and I oversee the technology they use on the devices. It was time for us to change as Microsoft has changed. Now if the Windows 10 mobile story comes to full fruition I’ll be there to champion that and help others through the adoption.

People are both the recipients and the agents of that change. Our reaction, that is the adoption to change, never stops the change thats coming. We can have a positive impact by guiding and directing it but often, if you think you can stop it, you end up frustrated and hurt. How many of us know people stuck in one of these phases, never getting to acceptance? Hopefully you don’t work with any of them!

To do things faster, with fewer errors, across broader boundries requires us to adopt new tool sets and skills. So how does one manage that, how do you adapt to adjust to this new reality? I have a few thoughts:

The ball is moving down the field. Become a learner. Determine to learn something new each week. Use resources like YouTube, Audible Books, Podcasts, a online or on site class, but stretch and enrich yourself.

Stay up to date. You can connect with collegues on LinkedIn, follow experts, vendors and corporations on Twitter and Facebook to keep track of trends and breaking news.

Do something new. If you are not used to the new equipment or software use it to do a test run or project. Get with someone who has some experience and work through a few scenarios. Dont fear it or ignore it, learn to make it work for you.

Get involved in whats going on around you. Find out how changes could be impacting your industry, department, organization, community and plug in to the processes directing the change.

The only constant moving forward is change and each of us needs to develop techniques for dealing with the impact of that force with our lives. Heres hoping your aware, accepting and getting ready for the ride!

So yes, I have ordered an iPhone. Lets get this out of the way, in the past I have referred to Apple products as “toys” and “entertainment devices” and always considered Microsoft as the leader in business software and productivity platforms. And they still are. But they have made a change in strategy with Windows 10 mobile that leaves its current users in a holding pattern while they “re-trench” and attempt to leap frog Apple and Android by envisioning a future where your phone IS LITERALLY a PC (check out this video to see what I mean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCJ9pYuxDNc). That’s cool but its a few years off. My months with the Windows 10 Lumia 950 XL has shown this device to be a prototype. I mean it works its just not stable enough right now to be a daily driver. I am responsible for a business that needs productivity and stability today.

Fortunately Microsoft has also shifted in this regard and many of the products I used on its mobile platform will be there when I move to the iPhone. Office, OneDrive, Office Lens, One Note, Bing, Cortana, Skype for Business, Sway, MS Health (still connects to the Microsoft Band), Translator, Channel 9 are all there. I can still even connect to my Xbox and play Halo Spartan Assault (when I am home of course!). This wasn’t true 2 years ago. Under new leadership Microsoft has embraced the present by developing more aggressively for Apple and Android (Apple makes me less nervous than Goggle regarding data security) while seeing if they can get a jump on the future of mobile where you plug your phone into a monitor and its also your PC. They have also started to integrate these other OS’ into the Microsoft infrastructure so these devices can be secured and managed by our networks. So the tide has changed and in this case its a good thing; at least for right now. I’ll be using and playing with the Windows 10 Lumia in the background and seeing what develops. Could this be a use case for clinicians in the future? Carrying a device is such an issue in the clinical setting BUT if that device were the size of a phone and we provided docks they plugged into for a full screen experience when needed, yeah I could see that working. We will see.

In my last post I mentioned using the clip from The Matrix as a metaphor for the class we put together to introduce those in our training session to what was ahead of them. No we wouldn’t be providing psychotropic drugs or plugging cables into their brains (yet!). We did however want them to see that they would need to look at their world and their work differently. The class would be demonstrating navigation and how-to’s with our desktop and productivity platform. But more important was to teach the concepts of leveraging the tech to become more efficient. Efficient first at the level of personal productivity and then extend that beyond to their departments and product lines. We pressed the cost of migrating them stating we didn’t want to hand off “a thousand dollars worth of equipment only to be used for email.” We highlighted the investment made by the organization over the last several years in software licensing and infrastructure. Then, we reinforced the value the organization could realize IF there were adoption of the tools we were reviewing and the automation available to users across the system.

The users in the class received their devices 1-2 weeks prior to class. We assigned them a set of YouTube videos on Windows 8 to review along with their device prior to class. We also encouraged them to go out and get their own case or cover of choice. This gave them a bit of time to familiarize themselves and put their own touch and style in getting used to transporting and carrying around this portable “desktop.”

One of the things the team assisting with the training noted was the anxiety present in the users on deployment and at class time. Our initial sessions were comprised of all senior leaders and physicians. These folks were used to being competent and decisive in every aspect of what they do. They were also all “digital immigrants,” somewhat familiar with computers but only the very basics and they were getting ready to go into the deep end of the pool. To address the anxiety and allay the fears we made the training relaxed, personal and fun. While there was an agenda, it was more of a guide. We worked to limit repetitive “click here, tap that, open that, type this” series of lessons. We were very unscripted and went where we felt the class lead in terms of interest and need.

To lighten up the day we used a number of humorous videos to relax the group and break the monotony:Blue Pill/Red Pill – Class Introduction and concept discussion.

Paper still has Some use – I argue during class that every print out not only cost money but initiates a manual process that could be automated. This video helps poke fun at the concept of all things being digital.

Medieval Help Desk – Funny take on converting from one medium to another. In the case of this video, from scrolls to books.

Overall the day started out awkward and tense but by mid day the groups got into a grove and by days end they were usually out of control. In a good way! Users would start experimenting with the things they had learned. They were moving documents to SharePoint, using the pen and practicing with OneNote, or playing with features they didn’t know existed in Office. The most distracting (and humorous) practice were users deciding to make a Lync video call in the middle of the session! For many this was their first introduction to desktop communications and video conferencing was too enticing to wait on. We simply lost the class for 30 minutes but it was good experience and great fun. In fact after a few classes, we ended up moving Lync (eventually Skype) to the last session of the day.

Since our start two years ago we have held a dozen classes training over 200 users, established our automation and efficiency platform and set a standard for end user technology in our organization. We are continuing to refine the program and adapt to changes such as upgrades in the tools. Since we started we have upgraded hardware going through Surface Pro 2, 3 and now 4. Moved from Windows 8 to 8.1 and now 10. We have upgrade from Lync to Skype, SharePoint 2010 to 2013 and have tweaked a number of settings via SCCM (System Center Communications Server) and AD (Active Directory). As our users learn and apply the technology they challenge us back so IT is learning and growing with its user base.

Ultimately the desire is to innovate our processes to enable more efficient, safer, cost effective care for our patients. This enables those overseeing those processes with the tools and guidance they need maximize efficiency and even redefine how they provide services and meet requirements in this rapidly changing healthcare environment.

Just over two years ago I started an effort to train my organizations leadership team on Windows 8. At the beginning of the day-long session I show a film clip from The Matrix. In it, the character Morpheus gives the character Neo a choice between taking a Red pill or a Blue pill. Take the Blue pill his life stays the same and he continues a rather tortured existence knowing there was more to his life than he was experiencing. Take the red pill and his eyes would be opened to the true world around him and the power he possessed. Oh, and he would have to fight against the forces trying to keep the world at the status quo. Of course the metaphor I was trying to share was give me your day, invest some interest, and what I show you could change the way you work and by nature the way the organization functions. You will come to understand the tools we have at our disposal, use them, gain efficiency and start setting standards across your departments for your team members to do the same. In this way, we will shift how things get done across the enterprise.

I’d like to think my clever presentation grabbed their attention and was sufficient for helping motivate them. It likely helped that for months our CFO was explaining how the changing reimbursement model across the health care industry was going to decrease stay and incentivize us to actually drive SOME patients and revenue out of the acute setting. Bottom line, you need to figure out how to manage on smaller margins and higher regulation. In other words, figure out how this new world impacts your services and how to be more efficient.

OK ready for your Red Pill now?

The Hook: So this all started months before with a presentation to our Senior Leadership team. I started with some bait. Everybody likes to get a new device. With the release of Windows 8 we started to see some early entries into hybrid laptop/tablet device space. I started taking units we were given to test, to leadership meetings with me and giving previews and planting the seed about mobility and efficiency. Then, during the budgeting cycle I proposed to refresh all SVP and VP devices with a Hybrid Windows 8 device. We had selected the Dell XPS 12 and then just before the program launched also included the Surface pro 2 which had just released as a choice to the user. This was also new for the team. Previously, there was a organizational standard and that what you got. Moving forward, they actually got to select what felt best to them. The XPS was a bit more like a laptop-like while the Surface more like a tablet and had that pen.

The Deal: recognizing the opportunity at hand I pushed for a commitment for the leadership team to adhere to some requirements.

They had to give up their current desktop device within 30 days of being trained on the new device.

They could only use that device as their PC. If they had offices at multiple sites or had to be mobile they had to take their Windows 8 device.

Remote Access would be enabled and limited to VPN client installed on the device.

They had to move the last 6 months of active documents from the network share to their SharePoint My Site

They had to create or update a departmental SharePoint site.

They had to give up any in office printer and only use shared devices if they had to print.

All future meetings had to be set up as Lync/Skype meetings to allow an option for remote attendance.

Any further utilization of this hardware and associated platforms had to be accompanied by a business plan. Directors who plan to extend this in your departments, demonstrate how it was going to improve your operations and better yet improve quality or save costs.

The Outcome: So I received support from Senior Leadership and we were ready to start our implementation. Tune in in a few weeks to see how we approached training and what the state of affairs are today.

So in my last post I reviewed the major features and changes to Windows Phone/Mobile that I most appreciated in its newest release. Well I have also been keeping a Bad and Ugly section of my little OneNote pinned to my device start screen. Today we go over that.

Power and Volume buttons:So I just do not get this. The power button is placed in the middle of the right edge snuggly between the + and – volume keys. Now since we don’t have double tap to wake the device out of the lock screen yet, you must tap the power key every time to get to the start screen. Did I say its right between the volume keys? So you must eyeball it or, I have taken to sliding my index finger North to South across all three keys and then back again to target the middle power button. Just harder than it should be.

Bluetooth:Just broken. Ok, I mean it works, its just not stable. I have connected to my LG headset, my Microsoft Band 2, a Nokia wireless speaker, a keyboard and mouse. So it works, its just for how long before, opps, a spontaneous disconnect. OK toggle the device off then on and your back…oh another disconnect. Toggle off then on. Ok its fine. Oh, listening to an audio book and a call comes in, you complete the call and then the audio comes in as a stutter. Reset the Bluetooth, restart the audio and your ok; for a while.
So this may be exaggerated but its not unusual to have a dropped Bluetooth connection once a day. Not fun when your on a conference call while your driving and suddenly everything goes quiet and your headset starts humming that its lost connection.
The good news, this can be fixed with updates from Microsoft and the sooner the better!

Storage:One or two blog posts back I mentioned my initial experience loading up the 950XL and directing all content including new app installs to the storage card. It didn’t go well. I had to do a complete reset and start over. Like Bluetooth, the use of the storage card is not stable in this initial release. Presently I have configured the settings to install new apps to device storage and downloads, music, pictures and videos to the SD card. While this has helped, I still occasionally see performance issues in working with pictures and videos and some apps like Movie Maker cant seem to fetch vids that are stored on the SD. Like the Bluetooth issue I believe this can be fixed with an update and again, the sooner the better.

Battery and Background Tasks:I am linking these two as I am guessing they are related. Battery life on my 950XL is just OK. Its not as good as my 1520 in day to day use and a similar load out. Now I should explain am pretty fanatical regarding charging. I have a cable or dock almost everywhere I go. I plug in at my desk, in my car and have several around the house. I say this to make the point this has not been a huge issue for me but it has been noticeable. I have a hold-over battery app from the Windows 8.1 days and it regularly alerts me to battery drain. A habit also from the 8.1 days has been to check on apps running in the background. So if you go to “All Settings” and search on Background you will find the of all apps running in the background. These are all the apps installed that want to perform some action behind the scenes to keep itself updated or perform some notification. Right now I have 61 items listed there with 29 of them active. However, several of these apps are listed in here multiple times (see image below).

Growing Pains
So there have been a few other growing pains in migrating to this new platform. The device has locked up and spontaneously rebooted on occasion. The XL is a dual SIM device and Microsoft has taken to showing an indicator of Sim selection by placing a small 1 and 2 above the messaging and phone tiles. My mind tends to register that as a unread message. I’d like to see another way, perhaps color, to indicate the active SIM. There is no VPN active indicator. I use VPN regularly and hate finding I did toggle it off and all my traffic has been routing through work. And this could just be perception, but word flow and voice dictation don’t seem quite as accurate or contextual as the 8.1 version.

At the time of this writing I am waiting on delivery of the latest firmware update for the platform. Of course I would hope to see an improvement in all the items I mention here (well they cant fix the power/volume buttons can they?!). In any case, this platform obviously needs some time to bake. Here’s hoping that the ingredients turn into one compelling dish!